No. 28? Too high

The first ESPN/USA Today top 25, voted by a panel of 31 coaches, was released today. The Buckeyes just missed it, coming in 28th.

I think they're ranked too high. I'll tell you why.

The first ESPN/USA Today top 25, voted by a panel of 31 coaches, was released today. The Buckeyes just missed it, coming in 28th.

I think theyíre ranked too high. Iíll tell you why.

I donít discount the possibility that this team, deep in bodies and presumably able to play big or small, slow or fast, could be a top-25 team and play in the NCAA Tournament at the end of the season. It has more talent than last seasonís team.

But it also has more question marks at this point than did last seasonís team, which also was 28th in the coachesí preseason poll (and 27th in the Associated Press media poll, which comes out Friday).

Last seasonís team had three seniors, including one (Jamar Butler) who started and one (Othello Hunter) who played significant minutes in the previous seasonís run to the NCAA championship game. This seasonís team has no seniors and one junior (David Lighty) who wore the OSU uniform two years ago. If there's one thing I've concluded in 11 years on this beat, it's that seniors make a difference, especially in a hefty major conference such as the Big Ten.

Butler was a fourth-year starter at that most important of positions, point guard, and ended up breaking the schoolís career records for three-point field goals and assists. He averaged better than 36 minutes per game and had more than twice as many assists as turnovers.

That teamís weak point, so itís been said, is this teamís strength. This team is tight. The chemistry seems good. That takes you only so far, though. Execution and production win games.

This teamís starting point guard, be it Jeremie Simmons or Anthony Crater, has never started a Division I game.

This team has no proven outside shooter like Butler, no one who made more than a third of his three-point attempts last season, and one (Jon Diebler) who made more than 70 percent of his free throws.

This team, like the past two, has a heralded 7-foot freshman (B.J. Mullens) who will feel his way for a while (how long a while?) as he is matched up against players older than, stronger than and in some cases as big as him.

This teamís only experienced big man, Dallas Lauderdale, is a sophomore who averaged seven minutes a game in his first season, 10 fewer than an older and more-productive Hunter averaged as a junior in his first year.

This team appears to be headed toward an eight- or nine-man rotation in which four or five players will be in their first seasons of Division I ball and the rest, except for Lighty, in their second. Last season's team played primarily a seven-man rotation that included the three seniors, a sophomore and three freshmen.

This team may be worthy of the top 25 by the end of the season. But itís not No.28 before it starts.